1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that can connect to a network, obtain print contents via the network, and print using the contents.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recent printing apparatuses such as inkjet printers and multifunction inkjet printers are capable of printing not only documents, but also photographs taken by a digital camera and the like. By connecting a memory card, the printing apparatus can also print photographs and the like by the operation of the printing apparatus main body alone, without using a personal computer (PC).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-39785 discloses printing apparatus having the capability of synthesizing a photograph and a design such as a frame when printing a photograph. Generally, when performing synthesize-printing, a frame image is downloaded from a home page or the like. The frame image and a photographic image are synthesized using image editing software on a PC, and the synthesized image is printed. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-76534 discloses a method of obtaining print contents via a network.
FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional system that prints using contents obtained via a network. In FIG. 8, reference numeral 1 denotes a printing apparatus; and 2, a PC (Personal Computer). The printing apparatus 1 and PC 2 are connected via, e.g., a USB interface 3. The printing apparatus 1 can print, via the USB interface 3, an image synthesized by the PC 2.
A router 4 is connected to, e.g., a high-speed optical communication line, and connected to the PC 2 via, e.g., a LAN cable 5. For example, when connecting the PC 2 to an external network, the router 4 converts ETHERNET® data transmitted via the LAN cable into optical communication line data.
A server 6 is an Internet server, and stores print contents such as a frame image file. The server 6 and router 4 are connected via, e.g., an optical communication line 7, and can exchange data at a transmission rate of 100 Mbps.
The printing apparatus incorporates several small-capacity frame images, and can synthesize and print a frame image and photographic image in accordance with the operation of the printing apparatus main body.
When synthesizing and printing a frame image in the system having this configuration, the user browses print contents on a network via browser software in the PC 2, and downloads a frame image he/she wants to use. The user connects a memory card to the PC 2, and loads images from the memory card into the PC 2. Then, the user activates image processing software, and synthesizes and prints the downloaded frame image and a photographic image loaded from the memory card. The print data generated by the printer driver is transmitted to the printing apparatus 1, and the printing apparatus 1 prints.
However, the following issues may arise when synthesizing and printing a desired image and an image such as a frame in the above-described manner.
When synthesizing an image such as a frame using a PC and printing the synthesized image, the user usually must be fairly skilled at operating image editing software on the PC. Also, since the PC generally needs to be connected, a user who does not have a PC typically cannot synthesize and print a frame image. When downloading print contents from a network, the PC generally must be connected to the network. Even if the PC is connected to the network, it may take a long time to download print contents from the network, which may result in a poor working efficiency, for example upon printing on a printing medium of the frequently used L size.
Furthermore, when synthesizing and printing an image such as a frame using only a printing apparatus, in certain cases it may not be desirable to store many frame images and the like in the printing apparatus because of the following reason. High-quality printing typically requires high-resolution image data, and the amount of high-resolution image data may be relatively large. To store a high-resolution frame image and the like, the printing apparatus may thus need to incorporate a relatively large-capacity memory, which may raise the apparatus cost. Thus, in certain cases, the type of frame image and the like storable in the printing apparatus may be limited. In particular, the file size of an image printable in a large size such as the A4 size can reach several MB (Mega Bytes). Accordingly, it may be difficult to store many large-size frame images and the like at low cost.